IFEC

What topics made the cut for The Weekly Wrap this week? Maryann Simson and I recap the incredible Flight Plan event organized earlier in the week by Inmarsat and APEX, health testing at the airport and more!

There was little doubt of the news, but also no formal acknowledgement until now. American Airlines finally confirmed that its newest 787-8 aircraft will fly with the Viasat inflight connectivity solution.

The aviation industry is in turmoil. As airlines slash spending the supplier network is scrambling to survive. For many of these companies staff furloughs is the name of the game. Panasonic Avionics Corporation (PAC) is the latest in the IFEC sector to implement such moves.

Airlines have plenty of reasons to be concerned as the cashflow crunch threatens their survival. So too, however, do the many smaller suppliers that deliver services to those airlines. What was mild trepidation at the beginning of the year, generally tied to the 737 MAX grounding is now, in some cases, a full-on threat to the survival of these businesses. And, unlike the airlines, these suppliers generally do not have the luxury of bailout funding from the federal government.

In part two of this report we explore the impact on Viasat, Thales, Inmarsat and Panasonic Avionics.

No revenue coming in for Gogo means little money to pay its employees. The company announced a furlough of 600 people, 60% of its staff, as it adjusts its business in hopes of surviving the COVID-19 downturn.

Premium inflight headphones have a new home in the market. Phitek/Ampehnol, developer of a leading line of noise-cancelling headphones and a unique, magnetic jack that reduces damaged gear, licensed its offerings to Linstol for future production and distribution.

With Aircraft Interiors Expo cancelled for 2020 and uncertainty about how and when the industry will come together in person again a new plan is emerging. Spearheaded by Inmarsat Aviation and backed by APEX and other industry leaders, the day-long livestreamed webinar series ‘FlightPlan: Charting a Course into the Future’ will examine the current state of the aviation market and the latest predictions for recovery.

This was supposed to be a year of recovery and free cash flow and all sorts of other good news for an industry that spent the better part of the last decade hemmorhaging cash in search of market share. Turns out the global health pandemic cares not for borders nor those plans. Welcome to part one of a deep dive into the inflight connectivity world and the suppliers affected by this recent turn.

As the inflight connectivity world continues to mature one market remains ever so slightly out of reach for suppliers: China. Eclipse Global Connectivity and Display Interactive are teaming up to launch a new venture based in Shanghai, with plans to capture that markes as “an integral part of the Chinese IFEC ecosystem.”